Greenland’s parliament has unanimously approved a resolution directing the government to prepare legislation for a temporary ban on deep-sea mineral extraction. The proposed moratorium would remain in place until the end of 2029 and could be extended in two-year periods.
The legislation is expected to reach parliament in the first half of 2027. Until it takes effect, the resolution does not immediately change how applications for mining licenses are handled, and the government has not yet finalized how deep-sea mining will be defined or whether existing licenses and pending applications would be covered.
The vote followed a statement by US President Donald Trump that “massive oil, gas and mineral exploration” was set to begin in Greenland. Trump has described the Danish Arctic island as strategically important and has since 2019 said the United States should buy or take control of it, at times declining to rule out force.
Greenland has substantial underexplored critical-mineral resources.
The proposed pause comes amid international debate over deep-sea mining. Polymetallic nodules on the ocean floor contain metals used in electric vehicles, weapons and electronics, but environmentalists have warned that mining could cause irreversible biodiversity loss. US Geological Survey scientists have also found that some metal-rich rocks recovered from the deep ocean can spontaneously combust when exposed to air and processed, creating a safety concern for a potential mining industry.